Participatory Geographies Research Grouphttp://www.pygyrg.co.uk
A research group of the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG)Wed, 16 May 2018 10:46:46 +0000enhourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1PyGyRg 2018 Committee Positionshttp://www.pygyrg.co.uk/pygyrg-2018-committee-positions/
http://www.pygyrg.co.uk/pygyrg-2018-committee-positions/#commentsWed, 16 May 2018 10:46:36 +0000adminhttp://www.pygyrg.co.uk/?p=1020Continue reading →]]>Our AGM this year, at the conference is Cardiff, will be at; Wednesday 29 August 2018, Plenary & lunch (13:10 – 14:25)If you have anything you would like on the agenda please could you email me by Monday August 20th. At the AGM we will have committee positions open to members. In addition to the below, we are very welcome to other ideas for new positions. Please email me to discuss any of these informally. Also, if you are interested but will not be attending Cardiff, please do email me at s.halvorsen@qmul.ac.uk.Positions; Chair of PyGyRG (2018-2021)Postgraduate officer (can be more than one post) (2018-2019)Social media officer (can also be more than one post) (2018-2019)Early career officer (2018-2019)Website/blog officer (2018-2019)Many thanksSam (PyGyRg Chair)

]]>http://www.pygyrg.co.uk/pygyrg-2018-committee-positions/feed/0Reflections on the RGS-IBG Mid-Term Conferencehttp://www.pygyrg.co.uk/reflections-on-the-rgs-ibg-mid-term-conference/
http://www.pygyrg.co.uk/reflections-on-the-rgs-ibg-mid-term-conference/#commentsWed, 25 Apr 2018 17:56:57 +0000adminhttp://www.pygyrg.co.uk/?p=942Continue reading →]]>As I rest my weary traveller’s legs, it is with great pleasure that I can finally sit still and reflect on my experiences of what has been an interesting, fruitful and thoroughly enjoyable RGS-IBG Postgraduate Forum Mid-Term Conference in the stunning surroundings of Royal Holloway University.

Three sweltering days packed to the rafters with networking events, workshops, presentations and posters as well as great food and stimulating company. The conference provided a welcomed opportunity for postgraduate students to present and discuss new ideas in a relaxed, friendly environment.

With sessions covering topics including embodiment and politics; identity and the city; climate, politics and the environment; cultural multiplicities; therapeutic and precarious landscapes; more-than human geographies; innovative methods and geopolitics, and with international scholars from the Republic of Ireland, Russia, France, Italy and Singapore – the event provided a fertile atmosphere in which to learn about the growing diversity of approaches within and beyond our discipline.

Innovative workshops designed to enhance the skills of postgraduate students along with thought-provoking keynote speakers punctuated the three days. Professor David Gilbert from Royal Holloway spoke about suburban imaginations, arguing that we need different models and different ways of thinking. Journeying through the history of suburbia, Gilbert asked maybe we need to stop romanticising the urban? Professor Kavita Datta provided particularly useful information on academic publishing. Journeying through the importance and the title, key words and abstract when submitting papers, Datta explained how this enhances the discoverability of an article and impact factor of the journal. An insight into the processes through which editors are appointed were also discussed and the often hidden, backstage practices that keep academia afloat were shared.

I presented my own research on more-than representational theories and geographies of ageing in the session ‘Identity and the City’ chaired by Professor Phil Crang. Drawing on ethnographic research with older people in Manchester, UK, in my presentation, I foregrounded the more-than representational facets of the ageing process to offer a way of disrupting reductive narratives of ageing. I provided a broadly cultural, more-than representational frame through which to consider ageing research and argued that space must be created to foreground those less-tangible, ordinary aspects of experience which are often overlooked. Thought provoking questions were asked about intergenerational relationality and how my own positionality in the research process might affect research outcomes. I was asked to explain belonging, place and attachment from a more-than representational perspective, all useful points of view and perspectives to consider and which provided the opportunity for me to practice my delivery techniques and considerations of how I might adapt and tweak my presentation for the approaching RGS-IBG conference in Cardiff.

With cosy nooks, homely dining area and a beautiful beer garden, The Barley Mow pub on Endlefield Green hosted our conference meal. Warm, welcoming and well-deserved, the food was delicious and provided the idyll back-drop for further insightful conversations to unfold. Such a gathering of passionate geographers inevitably fuelled an energetic atmosphere for exciting discussion brimming with genuine enthusiasm for the discipline. Everyone got to know each other a little more through the discovery of aligned interests and experiences, in a relaxed, informal way.

A glass of wine in one hand, and a fork full of delicious flounder in the other, I spoke with one researcher based at Durham University, whose supervisors happened to be Ben Anderson and Paul Harrison, two scholars which I frequently reference in my work. I spoke to another researcher from the University of Bristol, the so-called ‘birth place’ of non-representational theories, who has since put me into contact with the ‘Historical and Cultural Research Group’ there.

I can’t leave this post without writing about the host University itself. Set in 135 acres of stunning parkland, Royal Holloway has to be one of the most beautiful university campuses in the UK. The exquisite grounds consist of the stunning founders building, surrounded by perfectly striped lawns, neat flower beds speckled with bluebells, daffodils and tulips and ancient wooded areas home to scampering squirrels and air filled with birdsong. One day, as I was walking to get a drink, I noticed a small building in a wooded area, the sign on the door read ‘examination in progress’ – could there be a more tranquil environment to study!?

With temperatures reaching a sweltering 28 degrees on the third day, I took the time after the conference to explore the area and visited the nearby Virginia Water and Windsor Gardens. Royal Holloway was a superb host to the event, a genuinely friendly place with a strong sense of community and authenticity.

Thanks to the organising committee and to the participatory geographies research group for awarding me with the bursary which allowed me to attend such a fantastic, well organised and informative event. Thank you and see you all next year!

Amy Barron, The University of Manchester

@AmyCBarron

]]>http://www.pygyrg.co.uk/reflections-on-the-rgs-ibg-mid-term-conference/feed/0Desire Lines, Dawdles and Drifts: Walking Together As Research Toolhttp://www.pygyrg.co.uk/desire-lines-dawdles-and-drifts-walking-together-as-research-tool/
http://www.pygyrg.co.uk/desire-lines-dawdles-and-drifts-walking-together-as-research-tool/#commentsThu, 18 Jan 2018 11:54:10 +0000adminhttp://www.pygyrg.co.uk/?p=905Continue reading →]]>There is a growing body of geographical research that uses walking together as a research, teaching and learning tool. For example, Bates and Rhys-Taylor (2017), Warren (2016) and Evans and Jones (2011) all demonstrate various ways walking can help break down hierarchies and encourage rich conversations about the environment. Wider bodies of work on walking art and psychogeography indicate methods that are playful, subversive, multi-sensory, interdisciplinary, fluid and performative (Smith, 2015, Richardson, 2015 and The Walking Artists Network online). This call is for anyone who uses – or who would like to use – walking as a way to explore, critically engage with, and understand space and place.

PyGyRg are sponsoring two sessions on pedestrian methods at The RGS-IGB conference 2018. The first is a conventional paper session which offers a chance to share research and be inspired by the potential of pedestrian methods. Contributions are invited from anyone using walking as a research tool in their work. This could include (but is not limited to)

• How walking methods critically engage with and interrogate the environment
• Innovations, issues and debates around walking methodologies
• Contemporary psychogeographies and their relationship to the academy
• Activist, community and creative walking and mapping practice
• Walking pedagogy, its benefits, risks and ethics

The second session aims to put theory into practice with an exploration of the landscape around the conference centre. Walking artists, activists and academics are invited to provide prompts for creative walking to be used by small groups. They will to go for an autonomous wander at their own pace and after an hour or so will reconvene to share field-notes and experiences. This is actively participatory geography and our walking includes sticks, wheels, orthotics and other mobility aids. We want these sessions to be accessible and welcoming to anyone who wishes to join in and will strive to facilitate an inclusive and diverse conference experience.

Please send an abstract of around 250 words to Morag Rose, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, The University of Sheffield mltrose1@sheffield.ac.uk by 12 noon, Wednesday 14th February 2018.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or comments or need more information. I would appreciate if you could forward this call for participation to anyone who you feel may be interested. Details about the conference can be found here: https://tinyurl.com/2018walkonresearch

]]>http://www.pygyrg.co.uk/desire-lines-dawdles-and-drifts-walking-together-as-research-tool/feed/0Call for Sponsored Sessions at RGS-IBG 2018.http://www.pygyrg.co.uk/sponsored-sessions-at-rgs-ibg-2018-call/
http://www.pygyrg.co.uk/sponsored-sessions-at-rgs-ibg-2018-call/#commentsMon, 27 Nov 2017 15:47:35 +0000adminhttp://www.pygyrg.co.uk/?p=889Continue reading →]]>The Committee of the Participatory Geographies Research Group (PyGyRg) would like to invite proposals for sessions to be sponsored by the PyGyRg at the 2018 Annual Conference of the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) (RGS-IBG).

The RGS-IBG Annual International Conference 2018, which will be chaired by Professor Paul Milbourne (Cardiff University), will have as its theme “Geographical landscapes / changing landscapes of geography.”

PyGyRg members and those of the geographical and related communities are invited to propose sessions. We would welcome joint sessions with other research groups. Proposals should relate to our general interest in participatory geographies (http://www.pygyrg.co.uk), linking this in some way to the 2018 conference theme, although this is not absolutely necessary. We have listed the core aspects of our research group below.

Sessions may take the form of presented papers, panels, practitioner forums, discussions or workshops. Innovative sessions and formats are encouraged.

Submitting Proposals for PyGyRg sponsored sessions: Proposals for, or questions about, PyGyRg sponsored sessions should be sent to Rosalie Warnock (r.e.warnock@qmul.ac.uk). Questions about sessions may also be sent to Sam Halvorsen (sth31@cam.ac.uk).

Please also note that individuals may not make more than two substantive contributions to the conference (where a substantive contribution is: organiser of a session of any number of timeslots; paper/poster presentation of any length; panel member). Acting as chair/facilitator or discussant, or being a non-presenting co-author is excluded from this limit, though multiple roles in these categories this can have a significant impact on scheduling.

As per previous years, the RGS is able to provide a limited number of passes for those who would be otherwise unable to attend due to the costs involved. As such we encourage you to think about the inclusion of non-academics in your session.

We will confirm whether we can sponsor your session by *Friday 12th January 2018*

If your session is accepted for sponsorship you must secure participants and complete the required paperwork by *Friday 16th February 2018* at the latest (preferably earlier).

On Saturday 1st July and Sunday 2nd July we held our annual participatory geographies away weekend. This year we were in Reading and we partnered with the Reading Participation Lab who ran a great workshop on Friday 30th June which explored how we could achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development goals using participatory approaches. This bought together a broad range of academics and practitioners and we explored a huge range of different forms of participation.

Our away weekend consisted of a number of group discussions and activities between the 15 participants. This included us sharing our experiences and lessons from undertaking a variety of participatory methods, discussing the complexity of ethical issues, how we can ‘give back’ to research participants and what sort of outputs we should be producing, the distinction between militant and participatory methods and we concluded by discussing the benefits of participatory research.

As usual we sought to balance discussion of the specific methods of participatory geographies and the broader questions of what it means to do academic work with a participatory ethos. We also created time to allow one-to-one conversations about our individual research projects and the challenges and opportunities we were facing.

Some suggestions emerging from the weekend:

Conduct ethics pilots in our research before we start the research ‘proper’.

Have a ‘closed-loop’ approach to ethics so that once research is complete we publically declare what worked and what didn’t and the ethical consequences of our research. This way we can begin to understand the ethical outcomes of our work.

Developing a participatory methodology as a research project is a good way to get grant funding.

It takes time to build long-term alliances with non-academic groups, but such relationships are often ultimately worth it, especially as you advance in your career you can become more useful to those groups.

Always expect the unexpected in participatory research. Always have a plan B.

Participatory ethos in academia is about acknowledging and ensuring that academic research and teaching are collective processes.

To do participatory work we need to continue to reflect on our roles, bias, positionality actions and identity.

Participatory research is problem driven.

We adopted the Chatham house rule that means participants are free to use the information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s), nor that of any other participant, may be revealed.

My tenure as Chair of the RGS Participatory Geographies Research Group ends at the end of August this year. Unfortunately as much as I have loved the role I am not able to continue in it. I have served for 3 years and the RGS expects us to rotate committee members.

We are looking for a volunteer to take over as Chair.

The role is very rewarding and not particularly onerous. It is a great way to get involved in the Royal Geographical Society and get your voice heard. What you do, beyond holding some committee meetings, is entirely up to you. In the past we have organised away weekends, workshops and events, but there is no expectation that particular things will always happen, so you can certainly make it your own role. I would obviously help in the transition. There is also an established Advisory Board that supports the committee.

If you are interested please let me know.

The PYGYRG committee does need a chair to formally operate.

Thanks

Jenny

]]>http://www.pygyrg.co.uk/pygyrg-chair-vacany/feed/0Call for applications for RGS Conference Guest passeshttp://www.pygyrg.co.uk/call-for-applications-for-rgs-conference-guest-passes/
http://www.pygyrg.co.uk/call-for-applications-for-rgs-conference-guest-passes/#commentsFri, 24 Feb 2017 17:25:26 +0000adminhttp://www.pygyrg.co.uk/?p=802Continue reading →]]>Each year PYGYRG are allocated 6 days worth of free passes to the RGS-IBG Annual Conference. These are available to non-academics (activists, research partners etc) who wish to participate in a session but do not have access to funding to register for the whole conference.

The conference will pay for registration fees only. Guests are responsible for paying for accommodation and all other costs of attending the conference.

Eligibility criteria apply for all invited guests, these are that:

Nominated guests must be making a substantive contribution to the conference programme, e.g. presenting a conference paper, acting as session panellist or discussant, or convening a conference session.

If the nominated guest is from the UK, they must not be a geographer or a member of a university geography department.

If the nominated guest is based overseas: For EU transition states, the global South and other economically less-developed countries, nominations may be made for either geographers or non-geographers. For developed countries (including but not limited to, North America, Canada, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand and members of the EU) nominations may only be made for those who are not geographers or members of university geography departments.

The Committee of the Participatory Geographies Research Group (PyGyRg) would like to invite proposals for sessions to be sponsored by the PyGyRg at the 2017 Annual Conference of the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) (RGS-IBG).

The RGS-IBG Annual International Conference 2017, which will be chaired by Professor Sarah Radcliffe (University of Cambridge), and will have as its theme “Decolonising geographical knowledges: opening geography out to the world”.

PyGyRg members and those of the geographical and related communities are invited to propose sessions. We would welcome joint sessions with other research groups. Proposals should relate to our general interest in participatory geographies (http://www.pygyrg.co.uk), linking this in some way to the 2017 conference theme, although this is not absolutely necessary. We have listed the core aspects of our research group below.

Sessions may take the form of presented papers, panels, practitioner forums, discussions or workshops. Innovative sessions and formats are encouraged.

Please also note that individuals may not make more than two substantive contributions to the conference (where a substantive contribution is: organiser of a session of any number of timeslots; paper/poster presentation of any length; panel member). Acting as chair/facilitator or discussant, or being a non-presenting co-author is excluded from this limit, though multiple roles in these categories this can have a significant impact on scheduling.

As per previous years, the RGS is able to provide a limited number of passes for those who would be otherwise unable to attend due to the costs involved. As such we encourage you to think about the inclusion of non-academics in your session.

We will confirm whether we can sponsor your session by *6th January 2017*

If your session is accepted for sponsorship you must secure participants and complete the required paperwork by *17th February 2017* at the latest (preferably earlier).

Thanks

Jenny, Sam and Sophie

]]>http://www.pygyrg.co.uk/call-for-sponsored-sessions-at-rgs-2017/feed/02017 Critical Participatory Action Research Institutehttp://www.pygyrg.co.uk/2017-critical-participatory-action-research-institute/
http://www.pygyrg.co.uk/2017-critical-participatory-action-research-institute/#commentsMon, 07 Nov 2016 10:52:29 +0000adminhttp://www.pygyrg.co.uk/?p=732Continue reading →]]>Join us for the 7th Season of Critical PAR Institutes! The Critical Participatory Action Research Institute is designed to introduce the theory, methods, and ethics of critical participatory action research (PAR) to graduate students, faculty, and members of community based organizations. Through seminars, roundtables, and hands-on workshops with experienced researchers, participants gain the necessary skills and knowledge to integrate a critical PAR approach into their scholarship, research, and/or organizing.

What will I learn?

The history, theory, method, and ethics of Critical PAR

Building partnerships with community & community –based organizations

Creating conditions for meaningful collaboration within research collectives